Price Cuts on All Three Next-Gen Systems?
02-APR-02
A set of announcements by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony seem to pave the way towards price cuts for all three current home systems—the PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube—by the end of this year.
The Wall Street Journal printed an article yesterday stating that both Sony and Microsoft are in search of new manufacturing companies to reduce the cost of producing their respective game systems. Sony is reportedly in negotiations with Taiwanese manufacturer EMS to move some PS2 production over to China, while Microsoft has already taken in Wistron, a spinoff of computer manufacturer Acer, as their second manufacturing company.

Although neither company commented on the report, it’s likely that Sony and Microsoft are looking for ways to reduce the cost of manufacturing their systems. The PlayStation 2 is currently manufactured by Sony in three Japanese factories; Flextronics International produces the Xbox for Microsoft at locations in Mexico and Hungary.

Meanwhile, during an event in Seattle, Nintendo vice-president of marketing George Harrison said that a price cut for the $199 GameCube depends on whether or not Sony will drop the price on the PS2 to $199 or $249 from the current price of $299. “Sony's expected to make the first move and then we'll see where we stand,” he said, implying that a $199 PS2 would force Nintendo to cut the GameCube’s price.

Both Sony and Microsoft have long denied any plans for a price cut in the near future. However, industry watchers expect Sony to announce a cheaper PS2 by the end of this year, possibly during the E3 2002 exposition in May. If both Sony and Nintendo drop the prices of their systems, Microsoft will probably have little choice but to follow suit and cut the price on its $299 Xbox.

l Maximus l

04-03-2002, 12:48 PM

Makes sense to me :)

LynxFX

04-03-2002, 01:27 PM

I've been saying it all along. :D

And of course neither Sony or MS will announce that they will be dropping the price in say August or whatever because that would kill most sales up until August when it is cheaper. They will continue to try and capitolize on the higher price until like the day before the pricedrop actually happens.

I highly doubt an announcement at E3 either, unless the price drop is starting then.